Blackholes and Dead Stars
by saniker
Summary: Jess wonders what happened to his engagement. He recalls what happened when he was torn between two girls, and the decision he makes will change all their lives forever. Jess/Rory
1. Comment t'appelles tu?

---December 2 2006---

It was a very cold December there at stars Hollow. No one really stepped outside because of the heavy snow and the piercing cold. In the "apartment complex", as Luke likes to call it, April Nardini was setting the table for dinner and Luke was quietly stirring the hot soup.

April saw the pot and gave a sigh at the fact that it was soup again. She understood why though. It's the perfect food for such weather conditions and Luke didn't want to go to Doose's every time she wanted something new to eat. She sat down as Luke served the soup in big bowls.

April cringed from the taste for the soup. It was so bland…banal, so boring. She pushed her bowl of soup aside and started thinking about things to talk about. Then Jess popped into her head.

"So, when's Jess getting married?" She asked out of the blue. Luke looked up and paused for a while.

"You know, its hard to say. They don't even really talk about it anymore. It's like they're not even engaged."

"But dad, it's been over a year and a half since the engagement. Don't you think that's a little too long? I think the excitement and joy of other people is starting to die down already."

"Yeah I know. But, you know, it's not like I haven't tried talking to him. I told him that getting engaged to Shane was a really big thing. I told him a lot of things about marriage and how he has to be ready for it."

"And?"

"And… He sulked off."

"Of course. Remember how in love Jess and Shane were a few months back? He would always send her flowers, buy her chocolates, get her teddy bears. Then his blood went cold I guess. Their love was so fiery. Everyone wanted that. I just don't understand what happened."

"Yeah me neither." Luke said, staring out the window, looking away from April. He knew, he knew that if he looked at April she would figure out that Luke knew the truth. The whole truth.

"Eat your soup." Luke said.

---x---

Jess was sitting near the window in his new apartment he bought with Shane. He was looking outside and was reminiscing what had happened 8 months ago. He closed his eyes and wondered what happened. Tears started to roll down his face. This was the first time he emoted about it.

--- Eight months ago---

Luke was walking with Jess to the shop where Shane worked. It was almost 5:00pm. Shane would get off very soon. Jess held flowers in his one hand. It was a small bouquet of her favorite flowers, Calla Lilies. They didn't earn much money, but if they wanted to make a good living, they had to work twice as hard. Shane was coming off of her 11 hour shift and Jess came off from his 13 hour shift at Wal-Mart. 7$ per hour for Jess, and 6.60$ per hour for Shane. Both barely make a few cents above minimum wage. It was a tiring thing. But they needed the money. They barely saw each other anymore. Maybe a quick dinner then back to their small, small grubby apartment where they'd sleep until their shift.

Jess walked in as Shane was packing up her stuff.

"Jess!" She yelled with glee, seeing her favorite flowers in his hand. She hugged him and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Are those for me?" She asked.

"Yeah. I stopped by the flower store. I know they're your favorite."

Luke rolled his eyes. He felt so weird seeing the two love birds doing their- whatever it is. He was so cynical. He kept thinking, _this is never going to work. Their marriage is going to fall apart._


	2. Quiero volar contigo! Ay mi amiga!

(Continuation)

---Eight moths ago---

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. It's just that Luke needs help right now, in the diner I mean. Bye Shane." Jess told her as he dropped her off at their apartment. Jess walked off with Luke and never looked back, just as he will do in the future.

Jess and Luke headed towards the diner. While walking, Luke thought of things to say. How would he sugarcoat the whole "YOUR MARRIAGE IS GOING TO FALL APART! DON'T GO THROUGH WITH IT."?

Luke opened the door and gestured for Jess to sit down on the chair. Puzzled, he put down the chair and sat.

"Jess, this is going to be hard to say." Luke said seriously.

"Who's dying?" He laughed.

"Jess…"

"Oh, okay. What's up?" Then for a minute there was complete silence. Jess sat there uncomfortably. He felt so uneasy.

"Luke, you're kind of scaring me. Can you just tell me what it is?"

"Jess, I don't think you're making the right decision."

"With what? Not finishing school? Getting a low-paying job? Marrying Shane?"

"Yeah, marrying Shane…and you know….everything else."

"Why?" He asked feeling kind of insulted.

"Why? Because Jess. Because it's a lot of responsibility. Especially if you have kids. You're just too young and you're so naïve. Why can't you just wait? I mean how you know if she's even the one?"

"I just know it. I can't explain it." Then there was 10 seconds of silence.

"Are we done Luke?"

"Jess-………Yeah we're done." He said under his breath.

"Good, I'm going up. I'm assuming that the diner opens at 5:00?"

"Yeah. It will, why?"

"I'll take a day off of work from Wal-Mart."

And with that, Jess left.

(The day after)

Luke's alarm woke both Jess and Luke up. They got dressed, brushed their teeth, washed their faces. All that without speaking a word.

Luke knew exactly when not to speak to Jess, and this was one of those times.

Jess headed downstairs with a heavy feeling. The minute he stepped out, who was the first person he sees? Shane.

"Hey Jess!" She tried to climb over the counter.

"Uhm, hi. You can't go back here, Luke's gonna go ballistic." He lied. Now he didn't know how to act around her. He kept thinking about what Luke said last night.

"Hey, uhm I gotta work now. See you later?"

"Yeah. Sure." She said, feeling worried from the tone of his voice.

As Jess was walking around behind the counter, he stopped to notice something had been added. There it was, a very small but long bulletin board. Luke stuck a bunch of pictures to it. He hadn't really been in the diner for a while. He usually waits for Luke outside the diner.

There were so many pictures. There was a picture of Luke near a lake, there was a picture of Lorelai sipping a cup of coffee, there was a picture of Luke and Lorelai at the diner eating a pickle. His eyes went down them slowly. Then he paused.

"Huh…." He muttered. His eyes paused at the one picture of Rory.

Rory Gilmore. His first true love. She had the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen. She was lanky and had the shiniest brown hair that danced when the wind kicked up. She was the smartest girl he'd ever met and she was absolutely breathtaking, even in a picture.

She was in her toga with a yellow sash around her neck. It indicated that she graduated valedictorian. Then a sharp pain hit his heart. He remembered that he missed it, her graduation. He remembered that he broke her heart. He remembered everything he'd done, all the people he'd hurt.

He took the picture from the board and went upstairs with it. He sat down on his bed and stared at the picture for a while longer. He grabbed his copy of Moby Dick and inserted her picture inside.

Jess ran out of the diner and walked down a familiar path that he had often walked in the past. He arrived at a grassy home covered with big trees.

Nostalgia. He felt a kick in his stomach as he went up the stairs. He hesitated with his fist hanging in the air, about to knock on her door.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, he heard footsteps approaching the door. Then through the glass panes of the double doors, he saw a figure of a woman.

"Jess, oh my god, hi." She said.

She moved closer and hugged him. She smelled so familiar. He hugged her back and he felt another kick in his stomach… what was that? Butterflies?

It was so tense. Well, for him anyway.


	3. A Hard Day's Night

---Present Date---

Jess was still sitting near the slightly opened window in his apartment. He felt the cool crisp air dry up his tears. He felt the pangs trying to think back. He remembered that one moment. That stupid moment that changed everything. Had he not gone to Rory Gilmore's house… Well, he swears that everything would be so different. Everyone would be happy.

---Eight months ago (continuation)---

"Jess! Come in." Rory told him. He sensed the extreme vivaciousness in her voice. He wondered why she would be so happy to see him, the miserable little bastard that broke her heart and never explained why he left.

He stepped inside her house and looked around. Nothing had really changed. It was all the same. Same couch, pictures, decorations.

"I'm so happy to see you." She said.  
"Yeah, you know, I just came over to make amends…and stuff."

"Amends? For what?"

"Well you know, taking off like three years ago and things like that. I know, and I know that this is going to sound cheesy, that I hurt you and I know that I broke your heart. I just wanted to say that I was so stupid for doing that. I am so, so, so incredibly sorry."

"Jess…" Rory paused. "That was such a long time ago. It doesn't really matter anymore. I'm just glad that you're here now and now that you've apologized, that whole thing in the past is completely forgotten, okay?"

"Yeah. Okay" He smiled from ear to ear. He was so glad that it was that easy.

"So, I was just about to eat. You want to eat some left over Chinese food?" She laughed.

"Sure."

"Uh, you can just sit on the couch."

Jess sat down and watched her walk away. She was still the beautiful person she was many years ago. She still had the bluest of eyes he'd ever seen and her hair was still brown. But it was wavy now. It made her look mature.

Rory came back a few minutes later holding steaming Chinese food on plates. She sat down a couple of inches away from Jess and signed for him to start eating.

"So uh…" Before she started eating, "Uh, is there anything new in your life going on. You know, new job, new apartment, new people?"

New people? Subtle, she thought.

"No." He said lying, convincingly.

"Okay."

He knew what exactly she meant by new people.

"You wanna watch TV or something?" She asked.

"Yeah sure. What's on?"

"I'm not really sure. I'm not exactly home this time of the day."

"Where would you be then?" He asked as she turned on the TV.

"Well, at Luke's then you know, around."

"Around? Well, what does around exactly mean?"

"School."  
"Right! So where exactly did Rory Gilmore go to?"  
"Yale of course. Remember? Remember when you YAHOO-ed it?"

They both laughed. Then they stared at each other. They looked at each other like how they used to. Like little lovebirds or something.

He looked away and checked his watch.

"Oh! It's getting kind of late."

"Oh, it's only 3 o'clock."

"But uh, you know Luke, needs help at the diner, so I gotta go. I'll come back, maybe tomorrow.

"Sure." She said grinning.

He walked to the door and turned around.

"Tell Lorelai I said hi." He said. Then he gave her a big hug and left.

Jess started walking. He didn't hear the door of the house close. He felt her eyes watching him. He looked down and kicked the leaves up. He had a big smile on his face. He felt like he had a hanger in his mouth. He couldn't stop grinning. It was a good day for him. A damn good day.


End file.
